Language Challenge 180: Week 11 Giveaway

Multilingual Living is delighted to announce its next Language Challenge 180 giveaway prize! This giveaway will only be open for 6 days, so enter today!

It was sheer delight when I got my hands on the book How Eskimos Keep Their Babies Warm: And Other Adventures in Parenting! With all of the discussions that go on over at the Multilingual Living Facebook page about different parenting styles around the world, I couldn’t wait to read a book all about this topic.

The author, Mei-Ling Hopgood, does a delightful job of weaving together both her personal anxieties of being a new mother and her observations of cultural parenting idiosyncrasies: When parents in the US go to such lengths to make sure their children go to bed at the same time each night (even if it means leaving before the party really gets started) parents in Argentina are dancing the night away with their babes in arms. Aren’t regular bedtimes essential? While French children seem to eat everything on their plate, children elsewhere throw tantrums when the word “vegetables” escapes a parent’s lips. There is clearly something to learn here!

Hopgood resists making overarching judgments, despite her own cultural assumptions. Instead she shares research studies and provides us with answers that she receives from experts around the world. Ultimately, she shows us that global parenting styles are different for a variety of very good reasons, all of which make perfect sense in the cultures in which they are found. Parenting isn’t a perfect science; it is a cultural undertaking with global proportions.

We are delighted to have the publisher of this book, Algonquin, as a sponsor of Language Challenge 180. You can find How Eskimos Keep Their Babies Warm: And Other Adventures in Parenting, as well as a number of other fantastic books, at their website.

How to Enter the Giveaway…

To enter this giveaway, all you need to do is to leave a comment below telling us something interesting, funny, annoying, silly, fascinating or wonderful about parenting styles in your native culture(s), the culture where you are living now or a culture you have read/heard about!

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Important Details

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GOOD LUCK!

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Our grandson just experienced, what my wife called potty training boot camp. Our daughter and son-in-law put him through three days of intensive training over a weekend. Everything is going well since then.

One thing I appreciated about West African culture when I lived there was the fact that children are given family/household responsibilities from a young age. There isn’t any arguing over chores or duties because that’s just what is expected and that’s what all the other kids do.

Our neighbor in Germany once chased me down the street because I didn’t have a hat on my baby. It was such a warm day, I hadn’t thought about a hat for either of us. When I got on the train, though, I noticed that all the kids had hats on, some even with earflaps.

I was talking with a soon to be mommy from Azerbayjan. Her husband is from a Russian block country. I am an American and my husband is a Turk. My friend was commenting on how she had just visited a friend, who had a Turkish wife. They have an 8 year old child and the family never says no to the boy, even when he throws things off the 5th floor balcony. I’ve noticed a pretty lax parenting skill in Turkey as well. My Turkish husband, however, thinks I often treat our daughter like we are in the military. Different points of view certainly exist in raising children!

I hear you. I see a lot of of that around me in Korea. For example, here, parents don’t tell children to tidy up their mess. They just let them be and when the mess is too much, they just go and do it themselves. ¡Quiet a shock for me! My mom used to be really strict about that. And I appreciate that she did.

Another one that MIGHT be an American (or at least a English/American) thing: having children leave their baby teeth under a pillow for the “tooth fairy” and then replacing it with a quarter (or dollar…inflation!) at night.

I like on FB;-) I have twins and even though they are not identical people still get them mixed up, so I almost always dress one in blue as this translates good in English, german(Blau) and dutch(blauw) and then all are relieved that they can tell them apart;-) – a ten minute session I try with my boys is to ask words in different languages and associate the language with a person that they know and consequently then the language is also associated with that person. It’s great fun!

In Brazil children’s birthday parties are HUGE affairs to which the whole family of friends and relatives are invited. They are social events that everyone goes to, with plenty of yummy party food (not a regular meal, but sandwiches, savory [fried and baked] finger foods, and TONS of different candies). It’s so much fun!

One thing that I find humorous about my Romanian and German upbringing is the preoccupation with “moving air” (“curent” or “Zugluft” in each language). When it comes to babies, they shouldn’t be exposed to moving air because of the belief that it could cause them to get sick, catch a cold, etc. There is no such concept in American culture and when my Romanian relatives see how we expose our child to “curent,” they always cringe. So far, she’s survived it 🙂

I find it annoying when adults shout at children ( I mean speaking more loudly than it’s necessary), even when they simply to explain something; but then they complain that the their kids are “too noisy”. Koreans and Spanish do that.

I find it amazing how in Korea many children are raised on a diet that consists basically of rice, fermented vegetables, seaweed and very little of the rest (meat, fish, fruit). And yet, they are amazingly strong and healthy.

It still shocks me that some cultures do not show physical affection (kisses, hugs) or even smile to children. I find that the ones that do not do it are mostly men. Japan is quite bad for that. Don’t get it.

The air current thing is difficult for me to deal with in Russian culture, since I am an American. Actually, I think most cultures have a problem with cold air–air currents with American being an anomaly. Perhaps Koreans don’t have as much problem with it . . . . But, I have never quite understood the Russian cultural rules as far as dressing my children properly and am always scolded as a result. . . . My husband has more German ancestral upbringing and used to stress about this more than I did as well . . .

One thing I’m amazed about in Uzbek upbringing is that six year old girls will be sent to live with relatives who have just had a baby in order to be the mother’s helper. Americans would consider that a nuisance, certainly not a help! It’s quite impressive.

My friend’s mom, who is Chinese, thinks they are spoiling their child terribly because she has toys to play with (not tons) and several pairs of clothes. Apparently, she put her son to bed in a crib without a mattress (yes, really, directly on hard wood).

I would love this book. I’m fascinated by different parenting styles, and would also recommend the book “Our Babies Ourselves,” on a similar theme. (sorry, I forget the author at the moment)